Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 30, 2023 / 15:15 pm
Deaths by suicide grew to “the highest number ever recorded in U.S. history,” reaching nearly 50,000 in 2022, according to new data released by the CDC this month.
The CDC study, which shows the provisional data for 2022, reported that there were 49,449 deaths by suicide last year. Though the sheer number of deaths by suicide was 3% higher than in 2021, the CDC said that the final data for 2022 is expected to show an even higher number.
According to the data, which was “based on more than 99% of all 2022 death records” processed by the National Center for Health Statistics as of August, the suicide rate for 2022 reached 14.3 deaths per 100,000. This exceeds the previous year’s 14.1, which had been the highest rate since 1941.
The most heavily impacted age group was adults above age 35. These groups saw the largest increases from the previous year, with increases ranging from 3% to 9%. The suicide rate for white females was also among the largest increase of any group in 2022, with a rate increase from 7.1 to 7.3.